savage



(No Model.)-

W; 0. SAVAGE. APPARATUS FOR RAGKING LIQUIDS.

Patented Apr. 23, 1895.

dfiest Nrrn *rA'rEs Fries.

A'lENT WILLIAM C. SAVAGE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONEIIALF TO GRANVILLE L. SAVAGE, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR RACKING LIQUIDS.

SPECIFICATION forming; part of .Letters Patent No. 537,939, dated April 23, 1895. Application filed November 13, 1.894.. Serial No. 528,615- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. SAVAGE, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Racking Liquids; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

In the racking of beer as usually practiced in breweries the beer is led from the chipcask through a suitable conducting pipe which terminates in a flexible hose which is inserted by the attendant into the barrel to be filled through the bung-hole thereof. The hose is long enough to reach to the bottom of the barrel so that thebeer shall not be caused to foam by falling in an uninclosed stream. Ordinarily such gas as is set free is allowed to escape through the bung-hole around the hose, but it has been proposed also to return the gas to the chip-cask through a return pipe which receives it from a device which fits snugly within the bung-hole around the hose. It is impossible to close the ordinary filling pipe or hose at its very end and the consequence is that when the pipe is withdrawn from the barrel and it is transferred to another barrel there is a considerable waste of beer due to the escape of that in the filling pipe between the cut-off valve and the extremity. If care is taken to drain the pipe before its removal so muchtime is consumed in racking as to ofiset the saving secured by the prevention of waste. Moreover, it is impossible with this apparatus to fill the barrel full without causing more or less waste from time to time by an overflow. I have sought to devise an apparatus whereby the racking shall be conducted rapidly and without waste while the barrels are filled uniformly full, and it is in this apparatus as hereinafter fully set forth, that my invention consists.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a view in elevation showingthe complete apparatus in readiness for use. Fig. 2 is a detail view partly in section, showing a desirable form of valve.

In racking beer with my apparatus each barrel to be filled, one of such barrels being represented at A, is provided with a tap-valve, as at B, and at an opposite point, preferably near the end of the bung-stave, with a ventvalve 0, the tap-valve and vent-valve being features of the barrel and intended to remain in place, except when removed for some special reason. The tap-valve and the ven t-valve are so disposed relatively to each other that when the tap-valve is at substantially the lowest point of the barrel the vent-valveshall be at the highest point.

The valves B and C may be of any ordinary construction which will permit them to be closed or opened when connected with a faucet or filling-tap or its equivalent, a valve of this character being described in detail in Letters Patent N 0. 449,513, granted to Mark Antony March 31, 1891, and being shown in Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings. The construction comprises a bushing 12 which is secured in place in the barrel and is provided with a gate or Valve 1). The spindle of the latter has a head b which is adapted to be engaged by the end of the hollow key or faucet proper and to be turned thereby to open or close the valve while the key or faucet at the same time makes a tight joint with or is disengaged from the bushing.

The usual chip-cask or other receptacle from which the beer is supplied to the barrel is represented at D. From it the beer is delivered through a suitable conducting pipe E which terminates in a section of flexible hose F. The latter has at its end a racking faucet G with a cut-off G which preferably has formed in the same piece with itself the key or coupling piece H adapted to make connection with and to open and close the tap-valve B.

At or near the top of the chip-cask D,,or, it might be, in the air or gas tank from which air or gas under pressure is supplied, as hereinafter described, connection is made for a gas or air return pipe I, which returns to its source of supply the gas or air which is displaced through the vent-valve O of the barrel being filled. Preferably the pipe I is connected through a cut-off I to the upper end of the trap-tank J which is conveniently located near the point where the racking is carried on. A pipe K forms the connection between the vent-valve C and the trap-tank J and has near its lower end an observation tube L. For convenience in operation the pipe K terminates in a flexible section or hose M which has at its extremity a key or coupling piece N which is adapted to make connection with and to open and close the ventvalve 0 and is also provided with a cut-01f cock 0.

For a purpose presently to be described the trap-tank J is provided at its bottom with a coupling piece P and a cut-off cock Q.

In the use of the apparatus described above,

connection is made between the coupling piece N and the vent-Valve O, and gas or air under pressure is allowed to flow into the barrel to be filled until there is established therein the pressure under which the beer should be racked. The source of supply of the compressed air or gas may be the chip cask itself, in case it is suitably located and a sufficient air or gas pressure is maintained therein above the surface of the beer, or it may be an independent vessel in which the air orgas is compressed, a pipe S provided with a cut-off S being indicated as connected to the traptank J for this purpose. The required pressure having been established in the barrel, connection is also made between the coupling piece H and the tap-valve B, the barrelA being supported in such position that the vent-v valve 0 shall be at the highest point and the tap-valve B at substantially the lowest point. The valves 13 and O are opened when connection is made with the coupling pieces and the cocks G and O are then opened to permit the flow of beer from the chip-cask into the barrel and the return of the gas or air from the barrel to its source of supply. The operation of filling the barrel is thus conducted under whatever pressure there may be in the chipcask or in the vessel from which the air or gas is supplied,'and no disengagement or loss of gas is sutlered. As soon as the beer shows itself in the observation glass L the cooks G and O are closed and the coupling pieces [*1 and N disconnected from the valves B and O, the latter being closed in the act of disconnection. The coupling pieces H and N are then transferred to another barrel and the operation is repeated. It will be seen that the barrels will always be filled to their full capacity but at the same time there will be no waste of beer or of gas as the delivery pipe and the pipe K are closed at their extremities. In the event of the trap-tank being filled with beer through neglect to close the cut-off C it can be emptied from time to time through its valve Q and delivery pipe R, the latter being provided with a coupling piece for connection with the tap-valve of a barrel. The beer from the traptank having been kept under pressure is in condition to be delivered directly into a barrel for shipment in the same manner as from the chip-cask.

As the barrel is filled from approximately its lowest point, although without the insertion of a filling tube into the barrel itself, there will be no such disturbance of the beer as to cause the foaming of the same.

It will be observed that the operation of racking, as conducted with the apparatus already described, differs from the operation as usually conducted not only in various manipulations already alluded to but particularly in the fact that the barrel is filled through the tap-hole without requiring the insertion of a filling tube into the barrel through the bunghole as usual, which difference, as will now be understood, is material and important.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with a supply-vessel for liquid and a barrel or other package having a tap-valve and a vent-valve located at opposite points, and each being a feature of the barrel or package and each having a gate to be opened or closed by connection therewith of a coupling-piece or other key, ofa deliverypipe from saidsupply-vessel, a coupling-piece to connect said pipe to said tap-valve, a cutoff for said coupling-piece, a pipe to receive and conduct gas or air from the barrel, a coupling-piece to connect the gas-pipe to said ventvalve and a cut-off valve for said last named coupling-piece, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination with asupply vessel for liquid and a barrel or other package having a tap-valve and avent-valvelocatcd at opposite points and each being a feature of the barrel or package, and each having a gate to be opened or closed by connection therewith of a coupling-piece or other key, of adelivery pipe from said supply vessel, a coupling piece to connect said pipe to said tap-valve, a cutoff for said coupling piece, a pipe to return gas or air from the barrel to its source of supply, a coupling piece to connect the return pipe to said vent-valve, and a cut-off valve for said last named coupling piece, substantially as shown as described.

3. The combination with asupply vessel for liquid and a barrel or other package having a tap-valve and a vent-valve located at opposite points, and each being a feature of the barrel or package, and each having a gate to be opened or closed by connection therewith of a coupling-piece or other key, of a delivery pipe from said supply vessel, a coupling piece to connect said pipe to said tap-valve, a cutoff valve for said coupling piece, a pipe to return gas or air from the barrel to its source of supply, a coupling piece to connect the return pipe to the'vent-valve, a cut-off valve for said coupling piece, and a trap-tank interposed in said return pipe, substantially as shown and described.

4. The combination with asupply-vessel for liquid, and a barrel or other package having a tap-valve and a vent-valve located at opposite points and each being a feature of the barrel or package and each having a gate to be opened or closed by connection therewith ICC of acoupling-pieee or other key, of adeliveryto the tap-valve of a barrel and a cut-ofi in pipe from said supply-vessel, acoupling-piece said last named delivery-pipe, substantially to connect said pipe to said tap-valve, a cut-01f as shown and described. Valve for said coupling-piece, a pipe to return In testimony whereof I have signed my 5 gas or air from the barrel toits source of supname to this specification in the presence of :5

ply, a coupling-piece to connect the returntwo subscribing witnesses.

pipe, to the vent-Valve, acut-off valve for said WILLIAM C. SAVAGE. coupling-piece, a trap-tank interposed in said Witnesses: return-pipe, a delivery-pipe from said trap- A. WIDDER,

to tank, a coupling-piece adapted for connection A. N. JESBERA. 

